Former Fall River City Council Candidates Pantoja and Amaral faced off this week for State Committee: Here’s who won

Two former Fall River City Council candidates squared off at the polls this week for a seat on the Massachusetts Republican State Committee for the First Bristol Plymouth district.

Angel Pantoja and Gabriel “Boomer” Amaral appeared on the Super Tuesday Presidential primary ballot this week as candidates for the role of Republican State committeeman. Both Pantoja and Amaral are from Fall River.

Prelimary results, shared by Amaral on his Facebook page, declare Amaral beating Pantoja with 7,256 votes to Pantoja’s 2,737 votes. Kayla Churchill of Freetown, ran unopposed for the open Republican state committeewoman seat.

Speaking with Fall River Reporter, Amaral wanted to thank voters for their support:

“I want to thank the voters for coming out and putting their trust in the me. I look forward to working with all our supporters to not only unify and rebuild our base, but to address the real issues affecting our families. We have a real chance to make changes necessary to protect our youth and accomplish many of our goals as a whole. Please reach out and let me know how we can help you best. I appreciate you all and want to thank you again for your support.”

Reporter reached out to both Pantoja and Churchill but did not get a response before print.

Both the Democratic and Republican state committees are made up of male and female representatives from each of the 40 congressional districts across the state.

Every four years, members of the state committee are elected with the goal of promoting the goals of their party, work with the national party and city and town committees and to recruit and support candidates to run for office.

Amaral has twice run for city council in Fall River and failed to secure a seat. His most recent campaign was this past fall where he placed 11th out of 18, with the top 9 candidates elected to the council.

Churchill ran for school committee in Freetown last year after making news for giving a false name and entering local schools, highlighting security flaws. Churchill came in last in that race with only 158 votes.

This race may be the last for Pantoja. After a failed write-in campaign two years ago to challenge incumbent State Representative Alan Silvia as well as concerning legal issues, voters are seemingly moving on. Last month, Pantoja was back in court after being charged last fall with Assault and Battery with a dangerous weapon on a child under the age of 14 and Assault and Battery on a child with injury. According to Pantoja, the charges relate to his own son.

Details surrounding the charges were detailed in a police report obtained by Fall River Reporter last month. Pantoja is due back in court March 22nd.